The Word For Today

Helping the deaf to communicate was what truly motivated Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Perhaps that's because his mother and his wife were both deaf. For five frustrating and impoverished years, he experimented with a variety of materials to make a metal disc that would vibrate in response to sound, reproduce those sounds and send them over an electrified wire.

During a visit to Washington, DC, Bell called on Joseph Henry, a scientist who was a pioneer in research related to electricity. He presented his ideas to Henry and asked his advice - should he let someone else perfect the telephone or should he do it himself? Henry encouraged Bell to do it himself, to which he complained that he lacked the necessary knowledge of electricity. Henry's brief answer was, 'Then get it.' And so Bell studied electricity. A year later, when he obtained a patent for the telephone, the patent office officials credited him with knowing more about electricity than all the other inventors combined.

Study, work, hope and perseverance are 'common things' that are the keys to uncommon success in life. As Bell discovered, perseverance is often the most challenging. Longfellow wrote: 'The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.' Solomon wrote: 'Do you see a person...efficient in his work? He will serve kings. He will not serve unknown people' (Proverbs 22:29 GWT).

In his book Good to Great, business leader and author Jim Collins compares mega grocery stores A&P, the largest retailing organisation in the world in the 1950s, with Kroger, a small, value-based chain of supermarkets also thriving in the 1950s. Both of these companies realised that the world was changing with technology. Smartly, both companies conducted research and hired qualified analysts to forecast how these changes would impact future business. They each concluded that, going forward, convenience for the customer would be paramount. One-stop shopping was the name of the new shopping game. And Kroger took steps to adjust its stores to the new 'superstore' strategy that we take for granted today. In addition to food, they started to carry toiletries, prescription medicines, household items and more. A&P, however, chose to ignore the findings. The result? In 1999, Kroger generated profits eighty times that of its one-time competitor A&P and took over the number one spot in the market.

To achieve what you want in life, you can't afford to ignore the signs of change or the oncoming challenges. And pretending that something isn't happening is simply living in denial. Like the Sam Cooke song says, 'A change is gonna come.'

Are you ready and willing to adapt to change when it comes? Are the techniques you use to cope proactive and effective? Are you seeking God's guidance and blessing? 'The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding' (Proverbs 2:6 NKJV).

We often cling to people and things as if we can keep everything the same, but it can't be done. What you can do is be ready to deal with change when it happens. You may not be able to predict what the change will be, but you can put things in place to help you to deal with it when it arrives. Children go to university, so wise parents consider saving when their babies are first born. People eventually stop working, so it makes sense to save for retirement. A CEO who will one day step down, plans for a successor so the company can continue to flourish.

Sometimes change is hard, but planning helps us greet change. With God at your side, you have all the tools you need for success, including the flexibility and adaptability to adjust your course whenever necessary. Think of how technology, such as mobile phones and computers, has changed the way we communicate, shop and live. The GPS is an amazing technological innovation, but initially, drivers weren't too happy to embrace it. But it has transformed the experience of finding one's way while driving.

As you navigate the changes of life: (1) Realise that God lives in you, works through you and always has your best interests at heart (see Philippians 2:13). (2) Reach out for the latest tools and techniques, whether they're technological or involve new approaches to family life, diet, exercise or spirituality. In other words, get ready for change.

Paul wrote: 'I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2:20 NKJV). It's hard to get offended when you're dead. It's hard to get angry, jealous or irritated too. Why? Because you're dead! The day you put your faith in Jesus is the day your old self died. Your desires, dreams and plans are dead. The person who goes down in the waters of baptism is not the same as the person who comes up.

You are a new creation in Jesus. Of course, you must step into this identity on a daily basis. Paul said, 'I die daily' (1 Corinthians 15:31 NKJV). Jesus said, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily' (Luke 9:23 NIV). The key word in both verses is 'daily'. There's great freedom in this daily death. Your performance is no longer a statement of your worth. Your ego is no longer on the line. Your reputation is no longer at risk. You are living for the approval of one - that is the Lord!

Hence, Paul could write: 'God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world' (Galatians 6:14 NKJV). Then to drive his point home, he wrote: 'For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God' (Colossians 3:3 NKJV).

After suffering a humiliating defeat, God gave Joshua a second chance at victory: 'Arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land' (Joshua 8:1 NKJV). The king of Ai, still strutting with pride from victory number one, set out for victory number two. He marched towards Joshua, leaving the town unprotected. Joshua's elite squad charged in and set fire to it. And Joshua reversed his course, catching the army of Ai in the middle. The victory was complete.

Contrast Joshua's two attacks. In the first attack, Joshua consulted spies; in the second, he listened to God. In the first, he stayed home. In the second, he led the way. The point? God gave Joshua a new plan - 'Try again, my way.' And when he followed God's strategy, victory happened. It always does!

Perhaps you, like Joshua, have suffered a humiliating defeat. If so, here are two things you need to know: (1) Don't give up on God, for he won't give up on you. 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon' (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV). (2) God will give you another chance. Jonah ran from the call of God, but God wasn't through with him. 'Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh"' (Jonah 3:1-2 NKJV). He did. And what God did for Joshua and Jonah, he will do for you if you turn to him.

The first thing God did when he created Adam was to put him to work. That's because work gives us a sense of purpose, meaning and dignity. 'God put the man in the garden...to...work it' (Genesis 2:15 NCV). So Adam was a gardener.

But whether you count cash in a bank, trade futures on the Stock Exchange, flip burgers in a beach-side stand, whip up pasta specials at a five-star restaurant, fell giant timber in the forest or split and deliver firewood, coach a team, pastor a congregation, publish best-selling books, deliver newspapers in the early morning hours, star in your own television show, farm a large acreage, mow and edge neighbourhood lawns, go out on the road as a salesperson for computers, drive a truck loaded with machinery, build homes, clean swimming pools, argue cases before a judge or settle family disputes as a counsellor, always do a good job. A wise man once said: 'Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.' The biblical character Daniel did that. And like cream, he rose to the top in Babylon. 'Daniel distinguished himself above the governors...because an excellent spirit was in him' (Daniel 6:3 NKJV).

There are no small jobs, only people who perceive them as small and become small in doing them. The Bible says: 'Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper' (Proverbs 13:4 NLT). So always do a good job.